


The Sun and Pluto

by ProgramasaurusRex



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29231796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProgramasaurusRex/pseuds/ProgramasaurusRex
Summary: Severus can't seem to avoid Peter.
Relationships: Peter Pettigrew/Severus Snape
Kudos: 5





	The Sun and Pluto

1971

Severus stepped into the little boat that would take him and Lily to Hogwarts. He was already having a terrible day. Lily was upset about her sister, and the first boys Severus had met on the train had been rude about Slytherin. He'd thought this place would be different than his muggle primary school, but perhaps not.

A round faced boy got in the boat with them. The boy's pointed hat immediately fell in the lake.

"Oh, no!" he moaned. "I've only got the one!"

Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the hat. "Wingardium leviosa!" she cried. The hat popped out of the lake and back onto the boy's head.

He smiled, trying to shake the water out of his hat. "Thank you. I'm Peter Pettigrew."

"Lily Evans," she replied, beaming.

Severus felt proud. The two of them had only gotten their wands and their standard books of spells a few weeks ago, and they'd been practicing ever since. Lily was better at charms than he was.

"And I'm Severus Snape," he said.

Severus cast a drying charm on Peter's hat that his mother always used on rainy days. He figured he could afford to be friendly now that he was among other wizards. New school, new Severus.

The boy somehow tripped on the way to the castle. Unpleasant as it might be to think it, Severus was a bit pleased that there was someone here more out of place than him.

They lined up in alphabetical order for the sorting. In front of Severus was James Potter, and in front of James was Peter Pettigrew. For no reason at all, James cast a spell on Severus that made bubbles shoot out of his nose.

Peter laughed. "Nice one," he said to James, holding out his hand. "I'm Peter."

Severus blew his nose and folded his arms, reflecting dourly that Peter was sure to be in Slytherin as well. But he was wrong.

1975

News of the Dark Lord was everywhere. At the Slytherin table, Avery and Mulciber were discussing whether or not they'd join up when they left school. Avery was worried about his career plans if the Dark Lord lost. Mulciber told him he ought to be more worried if he didn't join up and the Dark Lord won.

Severus was terrified.

There was a parchment making its way around the school, passed from student to student. It was a list in invisible ink, with three columns: pro wizard rights, anti wizard rights, and neutral. "Wizard rights", of course, was a euphemism. No one knew where the list had originated. Most of the Slytherins thought it would be stupid to sign the paper, as it was an obvious trap from the government. Others swore it was a "passover" list, and signing was the only way to be spared when You Know Who breached Hogwarts. Many Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs signed in the anti column, proud to take a public stand. Bellatrix Black bragged about signing in the pro column, but she was always a bit reckless.

Obviously, Severus did not sign. He wasn't sure what he felt about wizard rights and Reunification, particularly as practiced by You Know Who, but he knew it damn sure wasn't anybody else's business. He did spend half a lesson messing about with the parchment under his desk, trying to force it to reveal the names of the other students who had signed. When he finally succeeded, he smirked, refusing to show any of his classmates. One of the Marauders had signed differently than the others. 

Idiot.

The next time Sirius and James cast a spell to cause Severus to attract mud, he paid slightly closer attention to the laughing crowd around them.

Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.

1978

The Ministry had fallen. Hogwarts had fallen. James Potter snuck out the night before graduation and spray painted the insignia of the Order of the Phoenix right in the middle of the quidditch pitch in permanent paint. The next morning, Lily Evans was wearing his class ring. It was all right for some.

The Death Eaters cruised around Hogsmeade all summer like an Italian mafia, promising an amulet of protection to anyone who took the Mark. No blood spilled without need, they vowed. Severus lay in bed in his flat above the cleaning potion workshop, quite alone, listening to the brawls in the Hog's Head, until the forced curfew put a stop to them. Mulciber wrote and offered him a medic position.

"For once in your life," he wrote, "be part of something bigger than yourself."

For a year, Severus accompanied his new friends to battles so he could spread healing salves on them when they went down. As advertised, adrenaline formed quick bonds among the men and women of the dark side. One day, he was mopping up an entire platoon when he encountered an old classmate, the only man there without a scratch on him. Silently, they loaded the rest onto the flying carpet so Goyle could take them to safety. As it was flying away, three muggleborn children, farm kids by the look of them, stumbled into the wood, armed only with the fire irons.

Without saying a word, Severus and Peter disapparated, pretending they hadn't seen.

1981

Severus read in the paper about Sirius and Peter's last duel. Something didn't add up. He'd never known Peter to raise a wand over anyone but himself.

1994

The Shrieking Shack filled up with people Severus had thought were gone forever. So this was what had become of the adored Marauders. Imprisoned, dead, playing dead. As worried as he was about what would happen if Peter found his master, something about the situation felt wryly familiar. Once again, he'd played them all like a fiddle. Peter Pettigrew was a wandering planet that gravitated around whichever sun shone brightest in the heavens.

1996

And now there he was, in Severus' sitting room, a new and unwanted roommate. Severus wanted to despise him. But as soon as the others left, Peter looked at Severus, that same look from the abandoned battlefield years ago. They understood one another.

Severus felt that had moral superiority over Peter because he had switched to the side of anti-bigotry. When he despised Peter, he was despising what he used to be. There was a comfort in knowing he was better than somebody. But only a little. It wasn't as if Severus had switched sides out of moral outrage, concern for his fellow man.

Did it make a difference that Lily was dead and Severus was still fighting? Severus told himself it did. After all, Peter had deliberately sought out the Dark Lord and brought him back to life, all for a chance to earn prestige. Severus wondered if Peter regretted throwing that grenade yet, if he had spared any thought for the faceless people who would have to die so he could live, or if he only regretted playing his hand poorly, missing his chance to usurp more favored followers while he had his master to himself.

Even now, was it principles that kept Severus playing his role? Or was it Albus Dumbledore? Bandaging his headmaster up after the incident with the broken horcrux, he was back to comparing himself to Peter. Two men who had taken the mark of their own free will, a mark they didn't even believe in. Two emotionally stunted men looking for a father.

One day, the doorbell rang. Severus sent Peter to answer it.

Curse the gods, it was Aunt Diana.

"Oh, hello," she said to Peter. "Have you just moved in? My nephew used to live here. Seth Snape? His family lived here for ages."

Snape ducked into the kitchen and prayed to every god he knew that Peter would go along with her assumption and send his father's sister away. Unfortunately, Peter simply smiled his best subservient smile and let her in. "Oh, you mean Severus? He still lives here. Come on in."

Severus expected Peter to be rude to this muggle lady he'd just met. But he soon realized that Peter was enjoying this too much.

"You aren't still going by that silly name, are you?" his aunt scoffed. "I was there in the hospital when he was born, and his real name is plain old Seth, says so right on his birth certificate," she told Peter. "Of course, his mum was an odd duck. I'm the only family he has left, poor dear, so I drop by now and then for a chat on my way home from church. Who are you, by the way?"

Peter smirked, obviously trying to think of the most embarrassing answer that wouldn't blow their cover.

"I'm his ... roommate," Peter winked. "John Smith."

Aunt Diana eyed his robes. "I can see you're in that same silly cult. Religious, is it? My brother tried to keep the family respectable, but it never did any good. Tobias and Eileen fought like cats and dogs, I wonder he never left her. I remember when Seth was a baby, Tobias nearly threw him off the roof ..."

Aunt Diana stayed for an hour. Peter kept offering her drinks. Finally, Severus managed to get rid of her by saying he had an appointment with the cable man. As soon as she left, he turned to Peter, his arms folded.

"You utter prick," he hissed. "Do you want us to be found out?"

"What did I do?" Peter protested, smiling nastily. "Your auntie seems lovely, as muggles go, Seth."

Severus wasn't sure if Peter had guessed he was a half blood by the general location of Spinner's End, but now he knew altogether too much about his background.

"Your dad didn't like magic, then? Caused a few fights? Hmmm, fancy a mixed couple not working out," Peter gloated.

Severus balled up his fists, hating how close Peter was getting to the truth. He wondered idly if Peter actually cared about blood purity at all, or simply pretended to for the advantage it gave him. Peter hadn't carried on about his physical disgust of Aunt Diana, like some of the purebloods did.

"As if your family is so prestigious," Severus spat.

"My parents both went to Hogwarts," Peter retorted.

"You're a pureblood playing butler to a halfblood," Severus pointed out. "You had the Dark Lord entirely to yourself for a year, and you still cocked it up. Much good your natural advantages did you."

"You had thirteen years to find him, and you couldn't be bothered," Peter shot back.

"Nor could you," said Severus. "Not until you were about to be sent to the dementors. You were legitimately satisfied with life as a rodent, weren't you, you simple minded little hobbit?"

Peter's face slumped. "Right, then. Neither of us is the pure as the driven snow sort."

Severus frowned but nodded. This frank admission eased the tension between them in the coming weeks.

It started with a bit of shit talking after the Death Eater Meetings.

"Did you see Narcissa Malfoy, floating around in that black gown, moaning over Lucius? As if she wasn't sleeping with half our graduating class," said Peter.

At first Severus acted like he didn't care at all. "Have you nothing more interesting to occupy your mind?" he sneered.

Peter shrugged. "I can't help it," he said shamelessly. "I haven't lived much of a life, have I? First the Dark Lord, then a dozen years as a rat, eavesdropping on various Weasleys, then a couple years with the Dark Lord again."

"Entirely due to your own terrible decision making skills," said Severus.

Peter wrinkled his nose. "You don't think I ought to have joined the Dark Lord?"

Severus remembered he was at least nominally pretending loyalty. "I think you ought to have stuck to a job more equal to your abilities."

He lit a cigar. "You're right though," he said. "Narcissa always was a bit of a hypocrite."

"I still remember those girls wearing those stupid purity rings at Hogwarts," said Peter.

"You ought to have worn one yourself," said Severus. "At least you would've been sincere."

"Oh, and you went out with so many girls," Peter replied.

Severus took off his shoes and put his feet up on the ottoman. "You're not the only one who hasn't lived much of a life," he conceded bitterly.

"Two handsome blokes like us," Peter laughed ironically. "Just think about after the Dark Lord takes over, though. We'll be nicely fixed. That's when life can really begin."

Severus tried not to shudder. It was his worst nightmare.

They brewed potions together. Well, Severus brewed and Peter chopped ingredients. Even then Severus had to remind him the difference between mincing and dicing. But he wasn't the worst. Steady hands. The potions were all right in the end, mostly healing potions and poisons. Life and death.

One night they sat up playing cards in the front room.

"You want to know something?" Peter said, trying to distract him from the game. "I didn't even blow up those dozen muggles on purpose. Only meant to make enough of an explosion to fake my own death. Found out when I read about them in the papers."

Severus regarded him sardonically across the dark card table. "And James Potter, one of your closest friends?"

Peter gulped. "They tortured that one out of me. They were trying to find out if the Secret Keeper was Sirius or Remus; stroke of luck for them that it was me instead. In too deep, I was. One minute you're at a lecture passing out leaflets, the next you're having your arm chopped off."

The man in front of him was pathetic, Severus thought. He tried to remind himself how different the two of them were.

A week later, when he had been up half the night brewing veritaserum, Peter brought him a cup of tea. Severus accepted it, smiling knowingly. Same Peter, new sun.


End file.
